Wilson's 18, so although he's Scottish, he'd count as a senior homegrown player by the time he's 21. It's why the deal needed to get done this summer, no matter the manager, if it was to be done at all. I can't remember seeing his name mentioned since Benitez was sacked, and it's incredibly heart-warming to have business finally done the right way, outside of the back pages. For a change.

He's a 6'1" left-footed center-back who did excellently for Rangers last season, far above what was expected of him – including in the Champions League, where he became the youngest player to turn out for Rangers in the competition. He was the Scottish PFA and FWA Young Player of the Year, and already has a league, cup, and league cup winners' medal thanks to Rangers' recent dominance.

With Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Kelly, and Ayala currently around, he's one for the future, but at least we're able to think optimistically about the future for a change. The signing may give credence to the Ayala and Kyrgiakos departure rumors, but Liverpool would still have depth at center-back even if both of those moves took place (although neither would fill me with glee). Maybe Wilson will be loaned out, but I doubt he's coming – for a rumored £2m potentially rising to £5m – for a year of reserve football, and regardless, it's great news. That it's for the future, not just solely short-term thinking, actually makes me more excited than I was for Joe Cole yesterday.

As Dalglish was supposedly the one most involved with scouting the player, I hope it's a sign King Kenny's still in the fold. Let's hold off on the comparisons to Alan Hansen, which seem based solely on nationality, but as I wrote when the deal was first mooted back in May, Liverpool's never won a league title without a Scot in the squad.

I know everyone's sick of Captain Buzzkill, and everyone should truly be happier because of the last 48 hours, but we cannot lose sight of the bigger picture. Owners, Purslow, debt, lies, etc. I'm as sick of writing it as you are of reading it. The feeling that another shoe has to drop still lurks in the back of my insanely pessimistic mind. But it's nice to bask in the warm, glowing warming glow of good news for a change.

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Would I get yelled at for saying I'd rather keep Soto than Carragher at this point? Unless Wilson is a massive aerial presence, which I'm doubting he is. I mean really I'd rather keep them all, but Soto gives the defense (and the team overall) something that nobody else does.

Given Roy's history with Brede I'm sure he realizes that, but of course he isn't making the transfer decisions.

Yeah, you might get shouted down for that one, simply because it's Carra.

I don't like selling young players, especially since Ayala looked so composed, but if it's a choice between those two, I'd rather keep Kyrgiakos just because of his aerial prowess/"firm" defending/swarthy Greek ways.

That Wilson, similarly young, is coming in and that Ayala's Spanish probably doesn't bode well for Daniel either.

And then he was included in the Swiss training camp, and supposed to start against Al-Hilal. Complete guesswork on my part, but I still think he's most likely to exit, whether via sale or loan (with or without buy-at-end-of-season clause).

Carragher shouldn't be a regular starter in my opinion. Our younger defenders can move faster and better than him. When someone starts mainly because of his name, you know that its time to let go. I hope we see him lesser this season. He shouldn't be the first name on the team-sheet.

I can't seem to find any evidence online of Wilson being a great prospect. Hardly any videos except one where he gets a red card for a silly tug.

"I can't seem to find any evidence online of Wilson being a great prospect."Aside from sweeping the Scottish young player awards and being the youngest ever Scot to play in the Champions League and forcing his way into the first team at 18 for the Scottish champions?

Neel that is exactly how I feel about Carragher. Well said. I've been seeing people guess the starting XI for this season and so many have Carragher in there without even putting something like "Carra/Skrtel." I don't get it. Yes he deputized competently at right back last season, but in the center of defense he was one of our worst players.

Hm I had read that he broke Willie Henderson's record that was set in the 60s, guess I just assumed that the record holder would be from either Rangers or Celtic rather than abroad and I read he was "youngest to feature from Scotland."

Either way, point is, don't worry about this kid's credentials. He is legit. If it weren't for this being the last year of his contract his value would be well into the double digits.

Great, great buy. You simply can't go wrong with a purchase like this for that amount of money. Unsure as to why he wasn't chased down earlier. Seems to have potential but has also played well over the course of last season. Excited.

Oh god nonononono. If we line up this year with Carragher on the right and Johnson on the left, all these offensive signings will have been meaningless because we're going to be shipping goals like fucking DHL.

I'm always amused when people feel the need to "remind" others of the big picture, like any of us who have H&G-sized Liverpool ulcers find them cured by blowing a couple mil on an 18 year old.

Here's what I see right now: this club is operating at roughly break-even in the transfer market as they attempt to remake the squad in Woy's image. Thanks to Rafa, we have enough pieces that generate some kind of return (especially if we sell him Masch) and give us flexibility. We seem to be willing to spend that money on young players who fit Hodgson's plans while recruiting veteran players on the Bosman. Given our perilous financial affairs (still not forgotten!), that's a smart way to spend the summer - sell players outside of Roy's plans, pay fairly for youth, hire veteran free agents.

If we aren't sold during this season, then nothing will matter. But as long as that happens, and I don't believe H&G would take on £90k/week wages for Cole if it weren't, then we will have managed to stay respectable despite H&G's molestation. And this summer will have had something to do with that.

It's important to keep the pressure on LFC publicly and consistently, but we can mention the good news without worrying that everyone has suddenly taken a hammer to the head. ;)

Multiple Liverpool forums and supposedly-informed journalists seem to think all's cured thanks to Roy, Cole, and Wilson. Hence why I feel the need to constantly remind. I've actually read "we're gonna win the league now that the fat Spanish waiter's gone!!!!" posts and it drives me up the wall.

Well, going back to Jan before official notice of sale, dismissal of Rafa, etc., is not what I'm talking about. But as for this summer, forget not that Cole and Jovanovic no doubt got signing-on bonuses, and that we aren't done in the market. So +8m might be more like +4 to +6, and that might not be in our coffers for long. Reports are we put in for 10m on Remy but won't match West Ham's 13m, for example.

While these crap owners/board are full of spin, they said they weren't interested in selling our stars and few people believed them. Then Gerrard commits to Liverpool and suddenly the "asset-stripping" conspiracy theorists are quiet. Point is, they're bad owners, but there *is* a team, the team's actually starting to look good on paper, and we are to be sold this season. Unless you refuse to believe the latter (and I don't see why we'd sign Cole if H&G expect to pay him out or "asset strip"), it's possible to feel not-terrible about the club. You can still give stick to the owners without ACTUALLY hurting inside (again, unless you think we won't be sold).

And really, at the end of the day, do you think the doofs who think all's well at Anfield are *really* the ones reading Oh You Beauty? ;)

Hicks and Gillett (and Purslow and Broughton for that matter) can say "we want to sell" until they're blue in the face, but there has to be a buyer, and it has to be for a reasonable price, and we haven't seen evidence of either. Still not out of the woods in regards to Torres or Mascherano, but I am hopeful that I was wrong about asset-stripping.

Also, I know people who come here are fairly clued up – or masochists who like to suffer through my unnecessary verbosity – but I guess I'm trying to be inclusive following the bump in traffic I've gotten since the World Cup.